✨Elle Chante reveals her radiant new EP 'UMBRA'✨
Elle Chante reveals her radiant new EP 'UMBRA'
Shares Her New EP UMBRA
Today Elle Chante reveals her brand new EP ‘Umbra’. Self produced and exceptionally powerful, the four track record is a remarkable response to immeasurable challenges, pining Elle Chante as an impressive artist and producer to watch.
Listen to focus single ‘Gentle Matter’ HERE & the whole EP here.
Pulling from her experiences living through Cancer treatment, UMBRA encapsulates the different and varied emotions that come with receiving a Cancer diagnosis as a young woman. Sharing more, Elle explained: ‘When I was first diagnosed I felt a huge lack of representation for young people with cancer. I felt completely stranded. I was the first of my friendship/age group to experience cancer and not having anybody to relate to made it even more alienating.. It always feels worse when you feel like you're the only one and I hope hearing Umbra will help others to feel less alone.’
The EP’s focus single ‘Gentle Matter’ is the final track in the set, wrapping up the record with a soothing dose of closure. Written as a letter to herself, the track depicts the encouragement that Elle felt she needed during her difficult times. With so much of cancer terminology being about fighting and beating the odds, this track is a simple: 'I'll be there for you'.
See below for the EP’s tracklist;
UMBRA
Heal Me
Reliable
Sweet Morphine
Gentle Matter
Ahead of today's EP release, Elle revealed ‘Heal Me’ back in February. Raw and honest, it was a sobering insight into the realities of putting your trust in a system that has the capability to completely fail you. Sharing more Elle explained: I want ‘Heal Me’ to be taken as a musical protest. As disabled people we don’t often feel our experience is being heard, but I wanted to take back my power by releasing this track.
The NHS struggling to deal with all sorts of things is quickly becoming everyone’s problem. As it stands it’s failing people and it’s not effective. Something needs to change.
So many of us are being consistently let down by the health system. The choices that they make for us are so important. They have my life and my fate in their hands, yet they don’t listen to me.
It feels like the care has gone out of the healthcare system and it's debilitating for those of us who have no choice but to rely on it.
Previously unheard track ‘Sweet Morphine’ is another stand out moment on the record. Touching on finding relief in distraction, it represents the importance of having coping mechanisms when times are tough. Using the morphine given in hospital post operation as an analogy in the track, Elle shares: ‘It’s hard because when you're seriously ill the situation is so awfully encompassing. It's hard to engage with normal life or see friends, but having something else to focus on, that wasn’t cancer, was one of the most helpful things for me’.
Also brand new today is ‘Reliable’, a stunning moment that reflects on the burden of battling on; ‘It’s really exhausting to keep on trying sometimes and holding this image of coping. I am so stubborn and I have an inability to take anything lying down. I keep on going, but it’s so exhausting.’ Elle explained.
Elle released her debut EP ‘Into The Night’ back in 2022, which was championed by the likes of The Line of Best Fit, Ones To Watch, 1883 magazine and more. As well as turning heads with her solo endeavors, Elle’s unmistakable vocal talent has proved to be highly sought after by fellow artists. She has featured on tracks released by the likes of Pilot Records (UKF) and Liquicity. Through this process, she has explored genres from Drum and Bass and Deep house, all of which have led her towards the sound you hear today. Since launching, Elle’s music has amassed over 7 Million streams and counting.
Born in London, Elle Chante grew up in the West Midlands, where she is based today.
Despite navigating numerous challenges with her physical and mental health, Elle's wealth of experience and achievements are a true testament to her innovation and creative gift.
Her talents span way beyond music and have seen her collaborate on a number of theatre and visual performance pieces, including her most recent venture: Accessible Dreamscapes, which was commissioned by Unlimited and The Glasshouse International Centre for Music in Newcastle. This took shape as an immersive musical performance which was also performed at London’s renowned South Bank Centre. It provided an invaluable insight into the disabled perspective through music and dance and was warmly received by its audience.
With significantly less opportunities being available to disabled artists, Elle’s achievements and resilience should not go unnoticed. As well as bringing much needed disabled representation to the music scene, she is also an ambassador of Attitude is Everything and the Featured Artists Coalition. In addition, is also a co-founder of Radical Body - an arts organisation that aims to make careers in the arts more accessible for disabled people.
With her other-wordly soundscape pulling inspiration from the likes of FKA Twigs, James Blake, Sleep Token and Apashe, Elle has cultivated a genre defying sound that boasts a special very quality.
Photo credit: Anita McAndrew
